Raspberry Pi Adhan Clock

This project uses a python script which automatically calculates adhan times every day and plays all five adhans at their scheduled time using cron.

Prerequisites

1. Raspberry Pi running Raspbian   1. I would stay away from Raspberry Pi zero esp if you're new to this stuff since it doesn't come with a built in audio out port.   2. Also, if you haven't worked with raspberry pi before, I would highly recommend using these instructions to get it up and running: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/noobs.md
2. Speakers
3. Auxiliary audio cable

Instructions

1. Install git: Go to raspberry pi terminal (command line interface) and install git   * $ sudo apt-get install git
2. Clone repo: Clone this repository on your raspberry pi in your home directory. (Tip: run $ cd ~ to go to your home directory)   * $ git clone <get repo clone url from github and put it here>   * After doing that you should see an adhan directory in your home directory.
3. sudo apt install mpg321 (the replacement of the old omxplayer tool)

Run it for the first time

Run this command:

$ /home/pi/adhan/updateAzaanTimers.py --lat <YOUR_LAT> --lng <YOUR_LNG> --method <METHOD>

Replace the arguments above with your location information and calculation method:

• Set the latitude and longitude so it can calculate accurate prayer times for that location.
• Set adhan time calculation method (refer: http://praytimes.org/manual#Set_Calculation_Method).

If everything worked, your output will look something like this:

20 60 Egypt 0 0
05:51
11:52
14:11
16:30
17:53
51 5 * * * /home/pi/adhan/playAzaan.sh /home/pi/adhan/Adhan-fajr.mp3 0 # rpiAdhanClockJob
52 11 * * * /home/pi/adhan/playAzaan.sh /home/pi/adhan/Adhan-Madinah.mp3 0 # rpiAdhanClockJob
11 14 * * * /home/pi/adhan/playAzaan.sh /home/pi/adhan/Adhan-Madinah.mp3 0 # rpiAdhanClockJob
30 16 * * * /home/pi/adhan/playAzaan.sh /home/pi/adhan/Adhan-Madinah.mp3 0 # rpiAdhanClockJob
53 17 * * * /home/pi/adhan/playAzaan.sh /home/pi/adhan/Adhan-Madinah.mp3 0 # rpiAdhanClockJob
0 1 * * * /home/pi/adhan/updateAzaanTimers.py >> /home/pi/adhan/adhan.log 2>&1 # rpiAdhanClockJob
@monthly truncate -s 0 /home/pi/adhan/adhan.log 2>&1 # rpiAdhanClockJob
Script execution finished at: 2017-01-06 21:22:31.512667

If you look at the last few lines, you'll see that 5 adhan times have been scheduled. Then there is another line at the end which makes sure that at 1am every day the same script will run and calculate adhan times for that day. And lastly, there is a line to clear logs on a monthly basis so that your log file doesn't grow too big.

Note that for later runs you do not have to supply any arguments as they are saved in /home/pi/adhan/.settings.

VOILA! You're done!! Plug in your speakers and enjoy!

Please see the manual for advanced configuration instructions.

There are 2 additional arguments that are optional, you can set them in the first run or further runs: --fajr-azaan-volume and azaan-volume. You can control the volume of the Azaan by supplying numbers in millibels. To get more information on how to select the values, run the command with -h.

Configuring custom actions before/after adhan

Sometimes it is needed to run custom commands either before, after or before and after playing adhan. For example, if you have Quran playing continuously, you would want to pause and resume the playback. Another example, is to set your status on a social network, or a calendar, to block/unblock the Internet using pi.hole rules, ... etc.

You can easily do this by adding scripts in the following directories:

• before-hooks.d: Scripts to run before adhan playback
• after-hooks.d: Scripts to run after adhan playback

Example:

To pause/resume Quran playback if using the RPi_QuranSpeaker project, place the following in 2 new files under the above 2 directories:

# before-hooks.d/01-pause-quran-speaker.sh
#!/usr/bin/env bash
/home/pi/RPi_QuranSpeaker/pauser.py pause

# after-hooks.d/01-resume-quran-speaker.sh
#!/usr/bin/env bash
/home/pi/RPi_QuranSpeaker/pauser.py resume

Do not forget to make the scripts executable:

chmod u+x ./before-hooks.d/01-pause-quran-speaker.sh
chmod u+x ./after-hooks.d/01-resume-quran-speaker.sh

Tips:

1. You can see your currently scheduled jobs by running crontab -l
2. The output of the job that runs at 1am every night is being captured in /home/pi/adhan/adhan.log. This way you can keep track of all successful runs and any potential issues. This file will be truncated at midnight on the forst day of each month. To view the output type $ cat /home/pi/adhan/adhan.log

Credits

I have made modifications / bug fixes but I've used the following as starting point:

• Python code to calculate adhan times: http://praytimes.org/code/
• Basic code to turn the above into an adhan clock: http://randomconsultant.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/turn-your-raspberry-pi-into-azaanprayer.html
• Cron scheduler: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-crontab/